DTC 101 – Spring 2013

The Real Digital Divide

authoring final

Rushkoff’s last four chapters are social, fact, openness, and purpose.  Rushkoff argues in the social chapter that the contact is important, not the content.  We use social media to reach out others not to be categorized and marketed to.  If that happens the message is lost.  When Rushkoff spoke at our school he made an interesting point about how Facebook is cookie cutter.  That no longer are we there to share and make new connections, but rather to represent some shell of who we are.  In the eighth chapter Rushkoff says how fact will win against fiction, in digital technology.  While he is right that we must tell the truth, people will believe what they want to.  The Internet can make any quack, or conspiracy theorist feel right, if not righteous.  The openness of the net allows for all opinions which is good yet so often poisonous.  Yet Rushkoff is right we must be open, and share not steal.  If we wish to create new things we must share, but sometimes the line between sharing and stealing get blurred.  For instance, if I make a mash up video showing the stupidity of CNN, Time Warner could sue me.  Yet if they were smart the would see their network is ripe for satire.  Satire is under the fair use clause but this would not necessarily be allowed.  In Rushkoff’s final chapter purpose(programed or be programed).  He says “If we don’t learn to program, we risk being programed ourselves.”  This means we must learn code, and understand the inner workings of computer, lest we become ignorant and complacent of the technology that surrounds us.  If we are not careful we will be rewired instead of the computer.

After searching for Locative Art on the 3 listed websites, each site offered different information. Wikipedia lists a multitude of information of the topic. In of itself Wikipedia offers the history, origins and explanation + definition on the topic taken from various different sources under the interpretation of the person who is writing the description of the term. This would considered to be a tertiary source and would be unreliable. It is further considered to be unreliable because the editors are anonymous (Evaluating Information on the Internet).

Both WorldCat and LEA are similar. They both offer sources that are peer-reviewed and have authors that are experts themselves on the topic. Ignoring any bias at this point, this information (as compared to Wikipedia) would be considered to be more credible because of its non tertiary nature and that the authors themselves are credible. Both sites; however, are subject to professional bias. Since both sites offer information on the term locative art based on their own research and their experience, the articles, books and other sources will be subject to this bias/subjectivity that is somewhat unavoidable.

As a whole, what I learned from this is that credibility on the internet is based on peer-reviews but also appeal to authorities. Researching on the web itself is a difficult task because of businesses being more digitally literate than most would know how to get their material seen (Carterette). It seems that sites that expect you to pay to access their information is also considered to be more credible because of what they offer for sources.

@DTC_AlexTDTran

@KatieGullans

Although these last four commands were written for technology and the internet, they can apply to people who refuse to go online.

“The bias of digital media is toward contact with other people, not with their content, or worse, their cash.” In real life, you should be social with people just to be social and not to get something out of it like money.

You should tell the truth online as well as in real life because eventually it will be revealed as a lie. It may be more difficult to tell a lie in real life because people can see facial expressions. In the picture, the guy in the background looks angry about the “harmless super laundry soap” probably because he was lied to, as there ended up being holes in his shirts. If you’re going to sell a product and you lie about it, people are going to find out when they use it and they are going to be pretty angry with you.

The next command is to share and not steal. We should be open to share our work instead of worrying about other people stealing it. It should be there to inspire people to create even more work to share. If we can be open, then we won’t have to worry about our work being stolen.

The last command is Program or be Programmed. We should learn how to work the code so it doesn’t rule over us. It would be better to know how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, then for people to always make it for you.